Boyd’s third chapter is on “Keeping the Kingdom Holy.” The wrong note is struck right at the beginning with a quotation from Bonhoeffer, who says “Jesus concerns Himself hardly at all with the solution to worldly problems . . .” (p. 51). Hardly at all? How could a mission to save the world not involve …
Lotsa Water
Driving out the coast, I had the privilege of driving for the better part of a day alongside the Columbia River. Driving back, the river was just as wide and just as long. What an enormous amount of water, flowing steadily to the sea. And, making this even more fun, we were doing pretty much …
Your Word and Her Heart
A man ought never to be in a position to break a woman’s heart unless he is also simultaneously breaking his word. His word ought to always be a protective barrier between him and her heart. He ought never to be in a position to destroy her without destroying his own integrity first.
Real Sacrifice
Let me take, as a fixed point of evangelical orthodoxy, the penal, substitutionary atonement of Christ. Let me also take, as a point of personal privilege, the knowledge that Rene Girard has offered some stunning and cogent observations about human nature, the process of scapegoating, triangular desire, and all the rest of it. How are …
Still Shunning the Centurions
In his second chapter, Boyd discusses the Kingdom of the Cross, setting it in stark contrast to the Kingdom of the Sword, which he addressed in the first chapter. If I were to critique his argument in a phrase, it would be with the phrase false alternatives. Quoting Rosser and Yoder, Boyd says that the …
Next Chapter Online
I put the next chapter of Evangellyfish up a few days early for reasons related to my next announcement. Blog posting this next week will likely be sparse to non-existent. This is because I am going to be staring at the Pacific Ocean in a semi-vegetative state. In the background I will hear the plaintive …
Leaving Out Normandy
Boyd’s first chapter, “The Kingdom of the Sword,” actually had quite a few good observations in it. He was very good in describing the way vengeance escalates, and how a particular civil order can confuse itself with the kingdom of God, and how Jesus told His followers that they were not supposed to function the …
Let Us Kneel Before the Lord our Maker
As you know, next Lord’s Day, we will be moving to two services. The first will be at 8:00 am and the second at 10:30. We will try that out for a few weeks, and it is possible that we will move them both back to 8:30 am and 11:00. Let us know what you …
Stones for Bread?
When we ask God for bread, will He give us a stone? No, of course not. And when He has promised us bread, and we asked because of that promise, will that change anything? Still less. And when He has promised the bread of Christ, offered to every sinner who understands he needs salvation from …
Gerrit DeBoer, R.I.P.
One of the last times I visited with Gary, if not the last time, he was showing me a model of his “more efficient” wind generator. He was an industrious and hardworking man his entire life, and he was seeking to be fruitful to the very end of his life. God gave him that great …